The vibe at Harris Reed’s autumn/winter 2023 show at Tate Modern on 16 February? “Pageant queens meets Henry Moore,” according to the British designer’s show notes – with Charlotte Tilbury’s lead make-up artist Sofia Tilbury developing luminescent beauty looks to match. Gold eyes were paired with lips embellished with rhinestones and glitter – Reed, after all, has a penchant for drama – while skin glowed thanks to a special “non-touring” technique, which sees the face sculpted with highlighter.
Specifically, Tilbury applied a gold sheen to models’ temples, along their cheekbones, across the bridges of their noses, and even on the bows of their lips. “Once you have all of the glow from the highlighter, you rely on the skin’s natural depth,” explains Kelechi Onuoha, a lead global pro artist for Charlotte Tilbury. “When the light hits the cheekbones, the gold does exactly what it needs to do.”
The hair for the AW23 presentation, meanwhile, nodded to the structural elements of the collection thanks to hairstylist Ali Pirzadeh, who mimicked the silhouettes of the garments – framing models’ faces with kiss curls decorated in striking gold leaf to add “dimension and texture while keeping it all structured, shaped and sculpted”. Perhaps his favourite hairstyle to make it down the runway at the Tanks? “I love the sharpness of the buns; it bridges in graphic elements of the collection.”
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